{"id":619573,"date":"2026-09-09T18:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619573\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T18:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:42:09","slug":"bathing-suits-team-up-with-mandy-indianas-valentine-caulfield-on-electric-re-work-of-i-can-be-a-freak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/619573\/","title":{"rendered":"Bathing Suits team up with Mandy, Indiana&#8217;s Valentine Caulfield on electric re-work of \u2018I Can Be A Freak\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/bathing-suits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bathing Suits<\/a> have joined forces with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/mandy-indiana\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mandy, Indiana\u2019s<\/a> Valentine Caulfield for a new version of their song \u2018I Can Be A Freak\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The track was the break-out single from the Leeds indie group, and has now been reimagined alongside the singer for the noise-rock group Mandy, Indiana.<\/p>\n<p>Like the original, the new reworked version stays loyal to the initial sound \u2013 leaning into aggressive, charismatic guitar riffs and elaborate electronic elements throughout. This time though, Caulfield works to bring a new level of adrenaline to the mix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI discovered Bathing Suits after meeting Freyja [Blevins, singer] at one of our shows earlier this year, and it was love at first listen,\u201d Caulfield shared. \u201cTheir music is exciting, provocative, danceable, and \u2013 something quite rare for a band so young \u2013 they know exactly who they are.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they asked me if I would be open to recording a verse for them, the answer was obviously yes. Little do they know that they are the ones who did me a favour: in 10 years, when Bathing Suits are filling up arenas around the world, I can say I loved them before it was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The new single comes amid a big year for the Leeds group, with them releasing debut EP \u2018KILL BATHING SUITS\u2019 earlier this year via Underplay Recordings, and also playing three memorable gigs as part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/festivals\/the-great-escape\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Great Escape<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the festival, they were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/bathing-suits-win-steve-strange-award-most-exciting-act-the-great-escape-2026-3947913\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">named winners of the festival\u2019s prestigious Steve Strange Award<\/a>, and both they and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/the-cover\/mandy-indiana-09-03-2026-3933460\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NME Cover stars Mandy, Indiana<\/a> were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-features\/the-great-escape-2026-top-10-shows-radar-3946037\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">named as some of the top sets that NME caught at the 2026 event<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLate night is when The Great Escape really comes alive, inhibitions loosened and everyone ready to have a good time as they pack into Brighton\u2019s intimate venues. Bathing Suits are a band perfectly suited to that environment,\u201d the entry for Bathing Suits read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir brand of electro-punk holds nothing back and each song in their short set encourages you to cut a little looser, whether in the elastic bass of \u2018Empathy\u2019 or thumping, liberatory ode \u2018I Can Be A Freak\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Mandy, Indiana, we wrote: \u201cValentine Caulfield is utterly riveting as she commands the stage, addresses the crowd on violence against women and commemorates Nakba Day in a statement of solidarity with Palestine before finally getting into the crowd to join the mosh pit. A powerful performance we won\u2019t forget anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bathing Suits are set to now join Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw on tour across the UK, and shows include a show at London\u2019s Electric Ballroom on October 7. They are also set to take their new EP on the road for a run of in-store appearances.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ticketmaster-uk.tm7559.net\/c\/2862475\/431519\/7559?sharedid=NME&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.co.uk%2Fbathing-suits-tickets%2Fartist%2F5641040\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Visit here<\/a> for tickets.<\/p>\n<p>With Mandy, Indiana, when the French\/Mancunian band graced the NME Cover, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/the-cover\/mandy-indiana-09-03-2026-3933460\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">they spoke to us about how they honed into their unique, industrial dance sound.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what we were noticing when we were touring and playing festivals was that we were attracted to unexpected rhythms. It\u2019s something that you can dance to, but that you don\u2019t normally dance to,\u201d guitarist Scott Fair shared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can dance to some experimental noise artist hitting a snare drum at really weird intervals and throwing things around a room \u2013 that\u2019s really exciting to dance to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bathing Suits have joined forces with Mandy, Indiana\u2019s Valentine Caulfield for a new version of their song \u2018I&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3736,635,93,61,636,60,278],"class_list":["post-619573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-electronic","tag-alternative","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-indie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}